ESPN Realist Goals for Angels

[Revad]

ESPN has an article on what would make a season successful for each team.  I'd like to see your opinion, for me this season will be successful with making it past the Division Series.  The other teams the Angels are grouped with are the Twins, Rockies, Brewers, and Rangers.  The ESPN goals are:

Make the division series or accomplish two of the following:

• Win 85 or more games

• Play meaningful games in the final week of the season

• Get at least one star performance from somebody 24 or younger

"The Angels have little in common with the rest of the teams in this group. That said, this seems like a good set of success markers for a club that hasn't won a playoff game this decade but could carry a lot of hope into next season if Shohei Ohtani turns out to be as fun/good as his press clippings have promised."

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22883309/2018-goals-all-30-teams-getting-world-series-just-getting-care

 

 

[JustATroutFan]

Right now, the goal for the Angels is to win their division since every single team in MLB has the same record (0-0).

They'll probably contend for the Wild Card, most likely as the year goes on. Just make the postseason and anything can happen. The best team don't always win the World Series.

[Stradling]

I agree that this is probably about right.  I would put them closer to 90 wins, probably 87 or 88.  If I had more confidence in their bullpen out of the gate I would probably go to 90.  But since we don't really have a bullpen with set roles yet, I think we will see the typical loss here and there early in the season because roles aren't defined because they haven't earned definition.

[VariousCrap]

I think upper 80's in wins is very doable for the Angels this season.  They should contend all year and the making the playoffs is also doable.

 

 

[Angelsfan1984]

I expect 162 wins and a world series sweep otherwise fire scioscia.

[tomsred]

21 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

I expect 162 wins and a world series sweep otherwise fire scioscia.

Well, the season will be over for you before the home opener.  Better book your cruise or tee times, or whatever now.

[tomsred]

I expect between 86 - 89 wins, and a wild cart slot.  I think Ohtani will start to show some real tangible promise, but not for a couple of months.  I think there will be some changes to this club as the year proceeds, so what you see now will not be what ends the year.  I am expecting at least 2-3 significant injuries (greater than 1 month) in the starting group.  Oh, and Scioscia will return in 2019, and Eppler will get an extension.

[eligrba]

57 minutes ago, tomsred said:

I expect between 86 - 89 wins, and a wild cart slot.  I think Ohtani will start to show some real tangible promise, but not for a couple of months.  I think there will be some changes to this club as the year proceeds, so what you see now will not be what ends the year.  I am expecting at least 2-3 significant injuries (greater than 1 month) in the starting group.  Oh, and Scioscia will return in 2019, and Eppler will get an extension.

It would be smart for Scioscia to extend Eppler.

[Ohtaniland]

ESPN 

[Angelsjunky]

This team has such a wide range of possible outcomes that they are impossible to prediction. A team like the Astros pretty much can't win fewer than 90 games, barring catastrophe - but we're talking about reasonable possible outcomes. They're something like 90-100 win range.

The Angels, I think, are something like 75 - 95. 75-80 if they have their usual pitching injury issues, Ohtani flails, Trout slides into second, players are old or just don't play well. 90-95 if people are healthy and perform even to reasonable expectations. I suppose the over/under is something like 85-87 wins, but it is a very wobbly over/under.

[Ohtaniland]

I’m thinking 81-81 strictly because I’m concerned about the run differential. We will score more this season but so will our opposition. If Skaggs, Heaney and Ohtani had showed up with lights out stuff this spring I would think differently. They all look very hittable so we are still in the “you win some, you lose some” category. 

[Revad]

When I think Skaggs, Heany and Ohtani are replacing innings from Noralsco (181@4.92 era) and Perez (13I@5.35 era) I feel much better.  I think that trio can combine for 320 innings with an era under 5.

[CaliAngel]

Sure it's fun to speculate but ESPN is trash.

[fan_since79]

I expect the team to contend at some point for a wild card spot. I'm not at all confident we'll still be there at the end. April can be cruel to this team, as well as the last two weeks of September. Too many question marks right now.

If I had to guess at this moment? Falling a little short of the second wild card at 83-79, and hopefully, no Scioscia extension.

[notherhalo]

shaky bullpen with nobody who deserves to close, Albertross hole at the cleanup spot to strand Trout, a bunch of guys unlikely to repeat their career year and a starting rotation with by far the most question marks of any supposed contender = 82-84 wins because Trout

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

4 hours ago, OHTANILAND said:

I’m thinking 81-81 strictly because I’m concerned about the run differential. We will score more this season but so will our opposition. If Skaggs, Heaney and Ohtani had showed up with lights out stuff this spring I would think differently. They all look very hittable so we are still in the “you win some, you lose some” category. 

Heaney had an ERA of about 1 until his last start when his elbow flared up a bit. Ohtani struck out players at a high rate. He was wild sure but in a small sample size. I think he will figure it out soon. His stuff is too good not too. He was more about working on things in ST training than he was about worrying about results. Richards looked sharp, as did Shoe on his last start. Tropeano looked very good also and is waiting in the wings for his shot.

[Ohtaniland]

7 hours ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Heaney had an ERA of about 1 until his last start when his elbow flared up a bit. Ohtani struck out players at a high rate. He was wild sure but in a small sample size. I think he will figure it out soon. His stuff is too good not too. He was more about working on things in ST training than he was about worrying about results. Richards looked sharp, as did Shoe on his last start. Tropeano looked very good also and is waiting in the wings for his shot.

We also have a very sketchy bullpen. Scioscia’s 6 man rotation plan is to help keep the workload down for guys he can no longer trust to give him full workhorse type seasons. Just look at Heaney who’s already had a minor setback. 

[Mark68]

16 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

This team has such a wide range of possible outcomes that they are impossible to prediction. A team like the Astros pretty much can't win fewer than 90 games, barring catastrophe - but we're talking about reasonable possible outcomes. They're something like 90-100 win range.

The Angels, I think, are something like 75 - 95. 75-80 if they have their usual pitching injury issues, Ohtani flails, Trout slides into second, players are old or just don't play well. 90-95 if people are healthy and perform even to reasonable expectations. I suppose the over/under is something like 85-87 wins, but it is a very wobbly over/under.

This was my thought as well. This team could win anywhere from 75 to 95 games depending on health (always--especially in the rotation), whether Ohtani shows some of his promise, and the bullpen. These are the key factors for me.

[nando714]

Starts and ends with pitching 

starters are suspect health wise 

Dominate teams have at least a good bullpen we don’t have a good bullpen. We will blow leads. 

83-79

[WeatherWonk]

Sometimes you just cant look at the team itself, but must consider the majority of the opposition they play. HOU is better, OAK is better, SEA is better. And we are better, except for our bullpen, where we got large contributions from Norris and Petit last year. 

Not convinced our starters can make it through a season w/o significant injury.

Feels like a .500 season, or slightly better to me. I think we miss the playoffs because one of BOS/NYY and MIN/CLE are better than us. HOU likely wins the division by 10+ games again.

[fan_since79]

27 minutes ago, WeatherWonk said:

Sometimes you just cant look at the team itself, but must consider the majority of the opposition they play. HOU is better, OAK is better, SEA is better. And we are better, except for our bullpen, where we got large contributions from Norris and Petit last year. 

Not convinced our starters can make it through a season w/o significant injury.

Feels like a .500 season, or slightly better to me. I think we miss the playoffs because one of BOS/NYY and MIN/CLE are better than us. HOU likely wins the division by 10+ games again.

You articulate my thoughts exactly.

The good thing about missing the playoffs is Scioscia will be shown the retirement door, finally. No extension for you, Mike!

[Blarg]

1 minute ago, fan_since79 said:

You articulate my thoughts exactly.

The good thing about missing the playoffs is Scioscia will be shown the retirement door, finally. No extension for you, Mike!

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I'd rather they reach the playoffs and go back to the world series regardless if it means another five year extension for Scioscia. 

[Stradling]

Hell ten year extension for getting back to the series!

[fan_since79]

13 minutes ago, Blarg said:

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I'd rather they reach the playoffs and go back to the world series regardless if it means another five year extension for Scioscia. 

Well, I'd rather they do that too. Just saying that if they miss once again, there will be no extension (I hope).

I can live with him being extended if we go to the Series, of course. But that's really a long shot, wouldn't you say?

Edited March 29, 2018 by fan_since79

[fan_since79]

5 minutes ago, SuperTroopers said:

Hell ten year extension for getting back to the series!

LOL.

You love the guy, just admit it.